Text it from the truck

The five apps

On an iPhone, most owners pick iMessage, which runs through Photon, a service that connects assistants to iMessage, in your own Photon account. On Android, WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal work the same way, each with an account set up for CrewBuddy. If your office runs on Slack, CrewBuddy can be an app in your workspace.

Each CrewBuddy uses one app. Pick the one you check most, since that is where reminders and the Monday weather check arrive.

What you can send

Questions, and also photos and screenshots: a job site, a receipt, a lead from Thumbtack, a supplier quote, a data plate. Documents work too, like a bid invite PDF. Dictating with your phone’s microphone button works well between jobs. For big files, such as a spec book, add them on your private page.

Three short commands are worth knowing: /home opens your private page, /pause stops CrewBuddy answering until you send /resume, and /help lists the rest.

Who can reach it

Only the account approved during setup. Customers and crew cannot text it, messages from anyone else are ignored, and it is not added to group chats. It texts first only for reminders and checks you set with Schedules on.

Messaging apps keep their own copies of messages, so keep card numbers and gate or lockbox codes out of chat. On WhatsApp, open the app on the account’s main phone at least every two weeks, or WhatsApp disconnects its linked devices.

Your private page, from the chat

Text /home and CrewBuddy sends a link to your private page, good for 30 minutes. Your files are there, along with Settings for logins and keys, the boxes for connecting your calendar or TickTick, and your chat history, usage and billing. Big files, like a spec book or a year of receipts, go in from there.

Photos that work

Fill the frame with the thing that matters, keep the light behind you, and send two angles of anything you want measured or counted. For a data plate or a receipt, a straight-on photo with no glare reads best.

Switching phones or apps

Getting a new phone is fine: the same account keeps working once the app is set up on it. If you want to move CrewBuddy to a different app, tell us and we move it with you.

Your crew keeps texting you, not CrewBuddy. You forward what you want help with.